Chapter 8: Jurisdiction

A video tutorial from author Gleider Hernández introducing the topics in chapter 8 of International Law

View the transcript here.

Key points for reflection:

  • Jurisdiction in public international law: ‘the limits of the legal competence of a State … to make, apply, and enforce rules of conduct upon persons’
  • Jurisdiction as the necessary corollary of State sovereignty and equality between States: resolution of competing claims
  • Safeguarded by the fundamental duty of non-intervention in the internal affairs of other States in the UN Charter
  • Exercising jurisdiction: prescriptive, enforcement, and adjudicative
  • Bases for claiming prescriptive jurisdiction:
    • Settled principles: territory and nationality
    • Contested principles: passive personality, the protective principle, and ‘universal jurisdiction’ based on the severity of the act rather than any jurisdictional nexus

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